31 favorite monsters: Parasitis
This will be a long one...
The notoriously difficult Abadox on the Nintendo Entertainment System was once one of my most frustrating experiences in gaming; as with most video games, I played it as a child only to see what sort of creatures were lurking within its twisted circuitry, but could never make it past the hectic second stage. This was a time before save points were a standard, before internet FAQs spoiled the mystery of every single title. The game teased me with only a little taste of flying eyeballs, skinless mutants and pulsating fungus-sacs, but was virtually impossible for a child who had only ever beaten The Little Mermaid. It was over a decade before I'd find my way onto the internet, discover emulation, and was able to finally cheat my way through Abadox and marvel at its creativity. Collecting images of every creepy critter along the way, I wound up with the content for one of the first webpages I ever created, and Bogleech.com expanded from there.
Abadox is a pretty special game to me, and the best part of all is that its levels are not only packed with monsters, they are a monster. The game tells the story of the deep-space lifeform, Parasitis, a creature so tremendous that it devours entire worlds. "Abadox" is the planet most recently absorbed, though for some reason, our character is sent into the monster's body completely alone to retrieve only a single princess. It's a thoroughly ridiculous setup, but the visuals are as disturbing as anything thrown at us by modern "Survival Horror" games. Don't believe me? Just check out the bosses:
It's obvious that these things were once human beings before they were digested and integrated by Parasitis, while more minor enemies include mutated animals, plants, and even flesh-infested machinery. The final boss here is even (SPOILER) the very princess you were sent to retrieve, though she must not have finished digesting since she emerges safe and sound when the surrounding tentacle-beast is destroyed.
If you've never played this game (and most of you haven't) I reccomend Dena's thorough two-part review and playthrough, which is easily more exciting than playing it for yourself, anyway:
The notoriously difficult Abadox on the Nintendo Entertainment System was once one of my most frustrating experiences in gaming; as with most video games, I played it as a child only to see what sort of creatures were lurking within its twisted circuitry, but could never make it past the hectic second stage. This was a time before save points were a standard, before internet FAQs spoiled the mystery of every single title. The game teased me with only a little taste of flying eyeballs, skinless mutants and pulsating fungus-sacs, but was virtually impossible for a child who had only ever beaten The Little Mermaid. It was over a decade before I'd find my way onto the internet, discover emulation, and was able to finally cheat my way through Abadox and marvel at its creativity. Collecting images of every creepy critter along the way, I wound up with the content for one of the first webpages I ever created, and Bogleech.com expanded from there.
Abadox is a pretty special game to me, and the best part of all is that its levels are not only packed with monsters, they are a monster. The game tells the story of the deep-space lifeform, Parasitis, a creature so tremendous that it devours entire worlds. "Abadox" is the planet most recently absorbed, though for some reason, our character is sent into the monster's body completely alone to retrieve only a single princess. It's a thoroughly ridiculous setup, but the visuals are as disturbing as anything thrown at us by modern "Survival Horror" games. Don't believe me? Just check out the bosses:
It's obvious that these things were once human beings before they were digested and integrated by Parasitis, while more minor enemies include mutated animals, plants, and even flesh-infested machinery. The final boss here is even (SPOILER) the very princess you were sent to retrieve, though she must not have finished digesting since she emerges safe and sound when the surrounding tentacle-beast is destroyed.
If you've never played this game (and most of you haven't) I reccomend Dena's thorough two-part review and playthrough, which is easily more exciting than playing it for yourself, anyway:
posted by Scythemantis at
1:28 AM
3 Comments:
I snorted when she said "for some reason it's shooting ghosts at me". I just found that hilarious. :P I remember you telling me about this game sometime when we first got to talking and I've wanted to play it since, had forgotten about it til now! (I LOVE all the eyeballs, obviously) :P
Abadox is rad! I've never played it myself, but my first memory of it was seeing an advertisement for it on the back of an Archie comic. It was jarring, but I was instantly fascinated by this surreal nightmare scenario, and to this day it is one of my favourite horror scenarios.
Aww, you still didn't beat it normally?
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